Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I had a good day sharing our faith with students today and Trevor and Chauncey prayed to receive Christ by faith. I also just got through the gospel with Cedra, when she ran for the bus. She’s a culinary student, Black woman, a bit older than average, in her 20’s anyway. She had a Christian background and had, “prayed for forgiveness for all her sins”. But she did not seem to understand the Gospel. She said when I went through the prayer with her, “I’ll pray this everyday.” She then literally took the booklet and stood up to run for the bus; we’d been sitting on the stairs by the door. So I’ll keep her in my prayers, but it was too fast and she ran off before I could talk her through any more of the Christian life. She attends church, however. So I’ll look for her again and keep her in my prayers.

Trevor was sitting on a couch against the glass in the hall outside the Book Store. He’s from a Methodist background. He was a kind, helpful guy and he said he hoped “My good things outweighed my bad things.” So he was kind of hoping in karma. I explained how that really didn’t work in Christianity in as much as you don’t get extra credit for being decent since you are supposed to be that way and you simply have the deficit of what you have done bad. I told him an example I often use: “Say you are driving down the road and you cut somebody off,” I said. “So you feel sketchy about that so you let the next guy in, now he feels good and you feel good, but the guy behind you, he’s still pissed.” He saw the logic and agreed with me.

After I had gone through the gospel, (he had not really known how his sins were forgiven and had not trusted in it to make him right with God before) I asked him, “So really there are two kinds of people. People who have God living inside them and have faith in what Jesus has done to make them right with God or people who have God on the outside of their life. Like if you were Islamic, Muslims believe God is a mystery and He cannot be known so they don’t believe God lives inside them.”

“I’d like to have God live inside me and I don’t think about Him enough, but I want to,” He replied. I explained how his response to God’s question: “why should I let you into heaven” was kind of like a Roche Test showing what he was trusting in and he needed to trust in what Christ had done for him on the cross now that he was older and not just a kid going to church with his parents. So I showed him the prayer explaining how he could receive God’s forgiveness for his sins trusting in the work of Christ and that he would think of God more if God lived inside him by His Holy Spirit. He prayed to receive Christ. He liked science so I gave him a copy of, The Case for a Creator to read and explained to him the importance of reading the Bible to strengthen his connection to God and how the Christian life was lived by the Holy Spirit. I also told him I would pray for him.

Chauncey is African American and goes to a Baptist Church near the city. Slender kid, cute. She hoped she had done all she could at her age to get into heaven but when I asked her how God took away her sins she guessed, “By going to Church?”

I told her then about Jesus and how He had died for her sins having lived a perfect life for her, and how the merit of His life was to her credit. And this was true if she trusted in what He had done on the cross to make her right with God. I explained a prayer to her, how she could have God live inside her and receive His forgiveness. She believed the gospel and prayed to receive Christ as her Savior and Lord. I gave her a Bible Study and a copy of More Than a Carpenter to read. I also explained the Holy Spirit to her, encouraging her to read about the fruit of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5. I got her e-mail to send her a story too.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and today if you had a chance. God blessed and we had a good time of sharing at Bible study too.

Blessings in Him,
Bob